All You Need is Ecuador

South America » Ecuador
November 12th 2015

Published: November 12th 2015

After giving up on my Europe blog, I'm going to try again with South America keeping up as I go this time tho so here is my first installment. November 2: 3.30am in Kilcoy Queensland, my alarm breaks the silence of the night however it doesn't wake me up as the excitement of what to come had hit and was already awake. It was off to the airport to embark on the next major chapter of my life.My flight left brisbane at 8.15am first stop was Auckland for a few hour and a few beers at the airport, nothing much of excitement after about 4 hours at Auckland, I left for Santiago, Chile, my next few hour stopover. The flight into Santiago was amazing (I had the window seat) coming into the approach to land there was endless clouds, but as we swung around the sight of the Andes mountains protruding through the clouds was amazing to see. The flight from Santiago to Guayaquil was delayed almost an hour and with having to go through customs at Guayaquil, things were going to be tight for my last connecting flight to Quito. We landed in Guayaquil and as I had a seat in the back row meant I was last off the plane and last to customs, but got through, raced upstairs to check in for my flight to Quito, hurried to the gate and with 15 minutes to spare they began to board, almost an hour late. Landed in Quito, walked outside got a taxi and was on my way to my hotel the Hotel San Francisco de Quito. After a quickly checking in at home I had arrived safely I made it to bed around 2am Ecuador time around 34 hours after leaving Brisbane.November 3: I set an alarm for 8am thinking that after 34 for hours with only a few hours sleep combined over 4 flights I would sleep late if given the opportunity. 6.30 came and I was wide awake so it was downstairs to use the lobby wifi to work out my plans for the day, I settled on just a simple sightseeing bus ticket and roaming around the city that way. As I was waiting for the bus, a delightful old gentleman but the name of John, like Johnny Walker he told me. He had obviously noticed my travel companion Roo II attached to my backpack as he asked me where in Australia I was from as he had lived in Sydney. He then proceeded to tell me he was a guide if I would like him to take me for a walk around the old part of town. I agreed and we set off. He explained to me that today November 3 was a national holiday in Ecuador and that it was the only day of the year the catacombes of the churches would be open to the public. I can't possibly recall the the places he took me to, but the San Fransico church, the oldest church in Quito, the Plaza Grande and the old hospital stand out as well as countless other churches and plazas. We walked around for around 2 hours through the churches, plazas and old neighbourhoods of the old town. When we returned to the Iglesias La Compañía I boarded my sightseeing bus. First stop on my bus as I had already seen the Iglesias La Compañía was El Panecillo, a hill to the south of the old town high has a huge statue at the top of the Virgin of Quito. The views from here were amazing and could see for miles all over the town. The one downside was I was unable to climb the pedestal of the statue as it cost $1 and all I had was a $50 which there was no change for. From here the lack of sleep was starting to hit me so I decided I was going to ride the bus straight through and just take in the sights from the bus as we drove past. I got off at Plaza Foch however as it was almost 3pm and I hadn't had breakfast, and as I heard this was a touristy area there should be no issues breaking my $50. From here I jumped on the next bus an hour later and took in the rest of the ride back to the Iglesias La Compañía where it was a short stroll down the street to my hotel. I lay down for a short nap when I got in around 4 pm and set an alarm for 6. My alarm sounded and I got up and went downstairs used a little bit of wifi and decided nope I'm going back to bed so about 7pm I went back to bed for the rest of the night. November 4: I had decided that today I was going to venture to the north of the city to the Mitad del Mundo or the Centre of the Earth, where the equator runs through. I was up early again for breakfast in the hotel and to work out how I was going to get to my destination. Finding very little helpful information on the Internet, short of getting a taxi the whole way (in saying that it's about a 1.5 hour bus ride). I looked in my Lonely Planet guide and it said to catch a metro bus to the northern station and get a bus labelled Mitad del Mundo from there. I was walking down the street I found to be the best from what I could tell to catch a metro bus and I glanced to a side street and there was a bus sitting there with Mitad del Mundo on it so I jumped on. Most of the way there they came around to collect the money for the trip, the guy taking the money spoke not a word of English and my Spanish is terrible I held out a handful of shrapnel for him to take what he needed. I'm unsure how much he took but I believe it to be in the ballpark of about $0.35, not a bad price for an hour or so on a bus. However I missed my stop by about 3 as I assumed that because the bus was labelled with my destination that everyone would be getting off there but nobody did so I stayed put then as I saw it get further and further away I thought I got to try to work out if I should have got off. Was pretty easy to understand I should have got off so I jumped off at the next stop which left me a couple Km walk back to the Mitad del Mundo. I walked up payed my $7.50 for my full pass which allowed me into the park, into the planetarium and to climb the monument. So I walked around for a bit took some standard straddling the equator photos, I took the elevator to the top looked around, the view of a clear day I assume would be amazing but it was a very hazy day so couldn't see too much off in the distance. Coming back down I took the stairs through the museum about Ecuadorean history and it also contained some experiments and things to do with the equator about water funnelling different directions down the sink etc. after coming down I walked around a bit through the gallery's And the countless amount of souvenir shops, past the llamas and the bull ring and had some lunch and made my way back to the bus stop to come home. The bus home however was no where near as easy as the bus there. I jumped on a bus the same as I had done this morning, assuming that it would probably drop me at the same place I got on. It pulled into a bus station full of buses and I had no idea what bus I needed to catch. After a conversation with a man who spoke a little English I showed him on my map where I needed to get to and he told me which bus to take, I jumped on and so did he. A few stops later he called out to me in Spanish so I didn't understand him but the lady sitting opposite must have, as we went past each bus stop, I must have looked concerned as she keep smiling and nodding at me which made me think I was still going the right way. Eventually the bus stops started showing up on my map and that filled me with relief. I got off and thought I can find my way home easy from here.... WRONG! I managed to turn a 10 minute walk into an hours walk at least in the drizzling rain that had come over as we'd got back into Quito. I did however make it back for another relatively early night as tomorrow I go climbing volcanoes.November 5: Up bright and early today to catch my 6.15am taxi to Foch Plaza to go on my trip to Quilotoa volcano. We board our 20 seat bus, all four of us and we drive out of Quito to the south as our guide rattled off information about points of interest of the way. Our first stop was at one of two markets we'd visit on our way. This was the produce markets where locals came to buy and sell eu produce. Everything from bread to meat to corn and grains were available and whilst walking around Sam and I decided we'd give something a try. We came across these ladies cooking what looked to be a kind of pancake. I'm pretty sure there was cheese and onion in it but not idea what else. Hey tasted pretty good and at 5 for $1 was a fairly cheap breakfast. As we continued to walk around we saw table of raw chicken just laying out in the open ready to be sold. The raw chicken feet caught my eye and as we continued further on we found a lady selling fried chicken feet, and as they say part of travelling is stepping outside your comfort zone. So after poor communication where we thought they were 50 cents each we ended up with 5 for 50 cents. Surprisingly they weren't too bad, not something I think I'd go for again, there isn't much meat on a chicken foot. From here we moved onto the animal market, again where the locals came to buy, sell and trade livestock. We walked into to an area full of pigs, goats, sheep, cows and llamas all tied up waiting to be sold. After walking around here debating buying a pig or llama we were back on the bus and on our way again. Our next stop was at the house of an indigenous family. A small one room house made from grass and mud complete with bed, stove and at least 100 guinea pigs.our guide told us the guinea pigs are kept inside in such large numbers to help heat the home, was an interesting experience to set foot inside one of the homes to see how the local indigenous people still live to this day, without the creature comforts we take for granted. From here our next stop was the Quilotoa volcano, and active volcano that over the years of inactivity has filled up with water, creating a 307 hectare lake in the crater. A short walk through a walkway with 10-15 metre sheer walls up either side, come around the corner at the bottom, I came upon one of the most awe inspiring views I have ever seen, looking down into the crater filled with water from the top was breathtaking to say the least. After some standard tourist photos from the top we began the 1.7km hike down to the lake in the bottom. The soft sandy path down, we were amazed to make it to the bottom with out going a over t at least once, as close a Sam came once. At the bottom there was the option to go kayaking on the lake, we chose against this as we walked around in the bottom a little bit to take some more photos and just take in where we we standing and what was around us. After a half hour is so in the crater, we had the tough decision of whether to hike back to the top or pay $10 for a donkey ride back to the top. Our story is we could have hiked it back up but when else would we have the chance to ride a donkey or in my case a horse out of an active volcano. So we mounted our steeds and Tonto (Sam's donkey) and The Jackal (my horse) set off back to the top. The ride up was fun, even with the steep ascents and loose footing we made it to the top and I learnt one thing towards then end that I'm not sure horses are suited to stairs. From here we took another short bus trip to our lunch spot. Lunch started with fresh papaya juice and then carrot soup with chicken followed by chicken and rice in a bbq sauce with veggies. Lunch was amazing and that's about all I can say about it. From here it was back to Quito. We stopped at the canyon at the beginning of the Toachi river, a few snaps here and onto the last leg of our trip. As the weather was closing in and after a pretty full on day, kicked back on the bus for a pretty quiet ride home. A short taxi ride back from where we were dropped off and another day was done and dusted. Tomorrow, I meet up with my Geckos tour.November 6: Today is the day I meet up with my Geckos tour which will be the next 83 days of my existence, I decided to take things easy as I have to check out of my hotel and then back into it as part of my tour group, which meets here during today. @After a quiet day we all met and had our trip briefing before going out to dinner as a group at a rooftop restaurant with views over the city.November 7: Today we split up as a group and some of us took a van to Otavalo Markets about 2 hours from Quito. We made a few stops along the way, at another spot where the equator runs through, and at a place that looked out over a lake and mountain. Weather wise today was the worst woken up by rain and it was pretty. Constant all day but was relatively light. We made it to the markets and we walked around for a while looking at all the shops selling alpaca jumpers and blankets,others sold little souvenirs and knick nacks, and other selling knives and smoking pipes etc. I made a couple small purchases on a bracelet to add to my collection and a pair of the happiest happy pants ever. We met back and went for lunch, then drove back to Quito. Rafter relaxing back at the hotel for a while, a bunch of us went to La Ronda for a quick street food dinner of grilled cheese sandwiches followed by dessert from a chocolate shop which served all different kinds of chocolate ice cream in chocolate bowls, with chocolate spoon. The Nutella ice cream was pretty good, I must say. Back home after dodging the crowds around Captain Jack Sparrow, Ironman and Batman, to prepare and pack for the first leg of our journey to the Amazon Jungle.8 November: While The organised people probably packed their bags last night, I left mine to this morning before our departing bus at 7am to the bus station. Being one of the clearer mornings since being in Quito, there were amazing views of the nearby mountains which over the last couple night had acquired snow, and even managed a great view of the ashing Cotopaxi volcano. We got on our bus to Tena. There were a couple hairy moments on the bus ride in the pouring rain, like crawling around a corner where part of the road had been washed down into the valley below. When we got to Tena we jumped in cars to go to Misahualli where we got our rubber gum boots and got into a motorised canoe to head a short distance down the river to the Shiripuno Community, the home of the Kichwa people. After arriving we sat down to lunch then had the afternoon free which was used by the river having a few cerveza's with the group. During dinner one of the guides grabbed a tarantula out of the ceiling around where we were eating which we were allowed turns to sit down, poke our younger out and have it crawl over our face. It was a really strand sensation but was a great experience to have a tarantula on your face. After dinner we were treated to a cultural night from the locals including dancing, a Bon fire, traditional halucenagetic, alcoholic tea called guayusa and even a tradition wedding between Dominic and Ramona. The tea was passed around starting with small cups and as the night went on it seemed to progress to just passing the bowl around, which seemed to end up in mine or Sam's (different Sam) hand. At the end of the cultural night most went to bed, however Sam and I decided on 'uno mas cerveza' with Diego and a couple of the locals. It turned out to be one of the most enjoyable parts of my trip so far just chilling out and sharing stories with so genuine locals. And one more cerveza turned into 1 beer and a couple whiskey's (I think). Tried my best to be quiet and not wake everyone up on my way to bed, which I was informed of in the morning I failed miserably at.9 November: This morning was a little bit rough after a few beers last night. After breakfast we went by motorised canoe into the jungle about 40 minutes down the river where we went for a hike through the jungle learning about all different types of plants they use in their everyday lives in the jungle. After about a 3 hour walk we got back in the boat for another short trip to a beach where we had lunch. After lunch we went tubing down the river. Lazing back in a rubber tube floating down a river in the Amazon jungle was pretty cool to do. Could have really used a beer though. After we were plucked from the river when we finished tubing we went back to the lodge. Travelling against the fresh flowing water from recent rain meant the ride back took at least twice as long. Back at the lodge we lazed around on the hammocks for a while until dinner. After dinner we played so cards and there was a torrential downpour and went to bed.10 November: After breakfast today we played a couple games, one involving standing sticks and skipping to the right or left depending on claps, leaving yours behind and grabbing the one next to you. Dominic won this. And after this was a game where one would dance in the middle and blindly point at the next person, there was a prize for the best dancer and with me in the comp, nobody else really stood a chance. We both won necklaces made by the locals for our efforts. After this we went on a plantation walk through where the locals grow the food and medicinal plants. During the walk we picked some cocoa and when we went back to the lodge we made our own chocolate, pretty sure I'm going to stick to store bought. We prepared our own lunch today by wrapping tilapia in a leave before they were cooked over the fire. And after lunch we part took in three activities the locals use in everyday life. These were blow piping, gold panning and making bracelets. Up first on the blow pipes I felt pretty accomplished to fatally wound my wooden bird target by hitting it in the tail feathers. We found no gold while panning and the felt pretty accomplished to make our own souvenirs. We played cards again after this until dinner, and after dinner Tio, one of our guides took us on a night walk through the jungle nearby to the lodge where we saw a lot of spiders, including black widows and a tarantula scorpion. I don't know if I have ever trusted a man as much as Tio, the first night I let him put a tarantula on my face and had now also let him put the tarantula scorpion on my prom which crawled all up my arms and back. After the walk, Tio, David, Julie, Sam and I were sitting around talking, trying to teach David some Australian and American slang terms. While we did this a bullet ant crawled along the railing behind me, Tio picked it up and again in an act of trust or stupidity I put my hand out when he told me to. Apparently the bullet ant has one of the most painful bites in the entire insect world. When there was a break in the rain, Julie and I made the dash back to the cabins and our last night in the jungle was done and dusted.

All You Need is Ecuador

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